Hexagram 32: Heng

Thunder over Wind · 雷风恒 · Tendency: Auspicious

Structure

• Number: 32 (King Wen sequence)
• Symbol: ䷟
• Upper trigram: Zhen (Thunder)
• Lower trigram: Xun (Wind)
• Lines: yin yang yang yang yin yin (bottom to top)

The statement

亨。无咎。利贞。利有攸往。

——《周易》

What this hexagram indicates

This hexagram signifies long-term persistence and steady rhythm. It is suitable for managing relationships, career, habits, and long-term projects. The key is not momentary effort but unwavering direction and continuous improvement. Do not have a short attention span, nor be too stubborn to adjust methods.

A Buddhist reading

Heng (Duration) means lasting, but the first thing Ouyi Zhixu points out is that this is not a rigid, frozen permanence. He sets Xian and Heng side by side: in Xian the constant is the impermanent, in Heng the impermanent is the constant, like two birds flying as a pair, neither complete alone. Duration has both an essence and a function. The essence is neither constant nor impermanent, while the function can be either. So the fixed ground in standing without shifting ground he glosses as utterly settled and utterly changeable at once. The bottom line only knows how to hold on, digging deeper and faring worse, while the third loses all measure under the excuse of flexibility. Real constancy means staying long with the middle way, not clutching one fixed opinion.

After Ouyi Zhixu (1599-1655), whose Chan commentary on the Changes reads each hexagram as a stage of practice.

The statement is quoted from the Book of Changes, which is in the public domain. The English reading on this page was prepared for this library.

Related hexagrams

• Previous / Inverted: Hexagram 31: Xianthe whole figure turned upside down
• Next: Hexagram 33: Dun
• Opposite: Hexagram 42: Yievery line changed to its opposite
• Nuclear: Hexagram 43: Guailines two to four below, three to five above

Related

• Liu Yao Divination ChartLiu Yao casts a hexagram about one specific matter and reads its structure. Unlike BaZi or Zi Wei, which describe a person, Liu Yao describes how a situation stands at a particular moment. This page walks through the full process from casting to attribution.
• Mei Hua Yi Shu CalculatorMei Hua Yi Shu is traditionally attributed to Shao Yong. What sets it apart is how freely it casts: a time, a spoken number, a direction or something noticed in passing will all serve. It attaches no stems and no relatives, reading the trigrams directly. This page covers casting through to the subject and object.